Rees Investing in the Hunter

It was very heartening to see the six page glossy "Community Cabinet Report - Investing in the Hunter" delivered throughout the electorate of Lake Macquarie this week.  

While there are lots of worthwhile projects being promised for the Region, the Business as Usual spin of this Premier is heartening, especially when we would have all been worried by his claims of a fresh approach as Premier, promising to do away with spin.

As the State desperately tries to attach itself to the massive Commonwealth Economic Stimulus package Nathan Rees seems to have deferred his commitment to all things "fair dinkum".  The opportunity to role out blatant Party Political advertising under the guise of information was obviously just too much of a temptation.

I can only guess what the cost of these brochures were but I imagine $30,000 per electorate would not be far off the mark.  Not a bad supplement to the Electoral Mailout Allowance for the local Labor members for Swansea, Charlestown, Newcastle, Wallsend and Maitland, the only local members who featured!  Of course, it would be even better if all of this printing was done locally - and as there is no indication on the brochure, I imagine they can claim that it was.  

Not to say that the Government hasn't been fair though.  They did after all deliver two boxes of these brochures to my State office.  And just to be fair, if anyone wants one, I would be glad to get a brochure to them - after all, if the Premier has been tempted back into using public funds for partisan, party political purposes, it would be a shame to further waste the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are spending on brochures, TV, internet, and other areas telling us how good they are.